


He's Mine, and He's Earned It

by Sun_Spark



Series: Possessive Jarchie (Collection) [2]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Archie Andrews earned his tattoo, Best Friends, Boyfriends, Episode: s3e02 Chapter Thirty-Six: Labor Day, Episode: s3e02 Labor Day, Gen, Help, How Do I Tag, Its 4 in the morning, Jughead finna fight some stupid snakes, Jughead is King of the Serpents, Juvie, M/M, Possessive Jughead Jones, Protective Jughead Jones, Protective Southside Serpents, Southside Serpent Archie Andrews, Southside Serpent Jughead Jones
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-23
Updated: 2019-06-23
Packaged: 2020-05-16 23:27:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19328263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sun_Spark/pseuds/Sun_Spark
Summary: Set before the football game, but after Joaquin and the Serpents give Archie a hard time. Jughead Jones hears about the trouble amongst his incarcerated Serpents, so he gets himself thrown in Juvie for a couple of weeks to set them straight on just how exactly Archie Andrews has earned the serpent on his arm and his place with them. And maybe to give his boyfriend a piece of his mind about that unexpected guilty plea in court, like seriously, what the hell?!





	He's Mine, and He's Earned It

**Author's Note:**

> Pre-football game, so I guess I'm lengthening the timeframe of the episode.

Silence or quiet strength and advice from Mad Dog, in conjunction with never-ending pull-ups and the solemn sounds of pages turning, that was expected. The Serpents giving him shit because of Joaquin, who had been in Juvie too long to know what Archie had done for the Serpents after the riots, that was expected. Ghoulies beating him up at any chance when he was alone, that was expected. What was most certainly **_not_** expected was the sight of a pissed off Forsythe Pendleton Jones the Third marching across the yard towards him and the Serpents surrounding him.

Joaquin had his back to the entrance, as did most of the snakes, and the two behind him weren’t looking up. No one had seen him except Archie who stared in shock. Watching him stalk across the short grass, detainees shifting out of his path and the few Ghoulies who dared challenge him quickly making the choice to step away, all Archie could think was how strange he looked without his beanie crown on his head.

When he got closer he started to hear the low words being exchanged, or rather sent one way toward Archie from a few Serpents, mostly just from Joaquin. The look of determination rippled into anger and settled into hard and rageful determination coldly contained. Joaquin shared Archie’s look of surprise, bordering on shock, as he was grabbed by the shoulders from behind and pulled back, shoved to the side. Angry protests began to fall from his lips but were cut off as Jughead hissed angrily “Not another word!”

He held Joaquin at his side by a hand on the scruff of his neck and pinned all the others with a glare. “What the **_hell_** are you lot doing?!” He hissed quietly. A few snakes with more bravery than brains tried to answer him, varying shades of excuses, but he cut them off furiously. “I send _my boy_ , one of your **allies** , in here with Serpent ink on his arm and you lot _**don’t take care of him?!**_ ”

Joaquin shook his hand off with a glare. “Shove it, Jones! Just because he’s your pal doesn’t mean he gets our protection. **Ally my ass!** ”

Jughead growled audibly and hit Joaquin upside the head, grabbing his shoulder roughly immediately after. The guards ignored them and the Serpents stood in waiting. Jughead snarled at Joaquin, addressing them all. “Perhaps you’ve missed the memo _asswipe_ , Dad retired, I lead the Serpents now, by his wish **_and_** by vote.” He grabbed Joaquin by the back of his neck again and pulled him close, hissing furiously. “And Archie Andrews? **I** made him a Serpent, **I** claimed him as one of us and I **damn** well expect you **_idiots_** to follow our law where he is concerned!”

Joaquin glared but didn’t pull away, meeting Jughead’s glare head on. “You being King doesn’t allow you to circumvent the laws you so boldly call on **damn it**! **_He hasn’t earned it!_** ”

Jughead didn’t move, stilling unnaturally. He blinked, and for a moment his voice became high and curious, like a child’s, “ _‘Hasn’t earned it?’_ ” The moment passed, and his next words came spitting out with venom and a pissed off glare as he shook Joaquin roughly. “You’ve been in here a long time Joaquin, **_too fucking long_** if you think _that_.”

He turned towards Joaquin and got in his face, hissed words for all of them. “When didn’t he earn it?” He shook him roughly. “Huh?!” His head tilted to the side just a bit, jutting his jaw out as he grit his teeth. “Was it when he looked Hiram Lodge in the eye and told him to basically go fuck himself? Was it when he ran to the Wyrm to warn us? To help us, help our wounded, escape a raid by the sheriff and the Ghoulies? When he and his father gave us asylum? Opened their house to our wounded and displaced for _weeks_ while we recovered?!” He glared furiously as Joaquin’s stare faltered, the Serpents around them shifting uncomfortably. 

“Or was it when he helped me move a crate of drugs to save my father’s life and keep the Serpents' home standing? When he kept the Bulldogs in check when they wanted to attack us after we were framed? Or maybe when he tackled a stupid idiot jock with a gun to stop him shooting and _**saved Fangs’ life?!**_ When he stopped Sweet Pea from burning the school in grief and destroying the last bubble of safety we had when we lost **_everything_**?”

He pulled at the now silent, abashed, and shocked, Joaquin roughly, turning to glare at the Serpents around him. “When didn’t he earn it, **_huh?!_** ” He scoffed, “What? He didn’t _take care of Hotdog_ for a couple of days? Didn’t have to _pull a knife_ from a _rattlesnake enclosure_? Didn’t have to go through _the gauntlet_?” He glared, gritting his teeth angrily, tone just shy of mocking. “Funny thing, he survived a **_real_** gauntlet, risked **_real_** death, multiple times, for **_us_**.” He glared at them all in turn, but their gazes fell, none challenging him. His tone became more controlled, even, calm, and final. “Archie Andrews is a Serpent by _**my**_ orders, and he has done **more** to earn it than most of you _**ever will**_. Any questions?”

No one challenged it, no one questioned him, they only shifted guiltily on their feet and shook their heads. Jughead grunted in lieu of words and shoved Joaquin away a bit more gently than when he had grabbed him. His eyes met Archie’s still widened and shocked gaze and he glared again, albeit with less anger in his eyes, though no lack of fire as flames jumped around his blue-green irises. He lunged forward the last step and gripped the front of Archie’s grey T-shirt in both his hands, pulling at him harshly. “And what the **_fucking hell was that Andrews?!_**” He hissed quietly and furiously. Archie stumbled back a step, hands curling around his friend’s wrists. The Serpents around them silently shifted to form a solid wall hiding them from view.

Archie recovered quickly and reset his footing. “ _What the hell Jug?!_ ” He hissed it with less fury and more annoyance but Jughead just scoffed and pulled at his shirt, jostling him lightly. “Don’t give me that Andrews! What the **hell** were you thinking?!” He ducked his head forward to get his face inches from Archie’s. “You plead _guilty_ to a _murder charge_ you’re innocent of! _What the **fuck?!**_ ”

Archie opened his mouth but closed it with a quiet scoff, rotating his head in a half circle, eyes tracking around them before he looked back at Jughead, hands opening and raising to the sides in an almost shrug. “Manslaughter not murder.” The joke fell flat and Jughead growled, shaking him. “ **Archie!** ”

The redhead sighed and let his head hang forward. The Serpent’s around them watched curiously but didn’t interfere, keeping their gazes tracking around them, on guard without appearing to be so. Archie sighed in defeat. “I just…Couldn’t do it Jug.”

Jughead, it seemed, had no end to how high he could turn up his never-ending glare. “Couldn’t what Andrews?” He hissed, “Couldn’t stick it out another round? Had to duck out instead of growing a spine and telling Hiram Lodge to shove it?!”

For the first time since Jughead had appeared, a spark lit Archie’s brown and amber eyes. Jughead was almost relieved to see it, ignoring his annoyance at Archie suddenly being in his face and angry, hands gripping at his own once again. “ **No!** ” He spat. Jughead matched him step for step. “Then **what?!** ”

The spark left, amber turning once again to dull brown. Archie’s shoulders slumped, and the air left him in a slow rush. “I just…couldn’t, Jug.” He whispered quietly. “ _Three months._ " Those two words were a broken plea. "Three months of everyone pushing themselves to their limits over me. Three months of never-ending worry if one of you was going to get hurt if it didn’t end soon. Three months of watching the people I cared about falling apart.” He tilted his head back and stared at the sky, unwilling to meet Jughead’s eyes. “I- I couldn’t put you all through that again, I-…I just couldn’t.”

Jughead stared at him in shock for a heartbeat, then he barked out a sound somewhere between a broken laugh and a sigh, hanging his head and shaking it lightly. “You’re an idiot Andrews…” He sighed in earnest then and looked up, catching Archie’s eyes. “If you think we won’t spend every moment of the next two years doing everything in our power to get you out of here-” He broke off with a scoff, shaking his head. 

Archie hung his head and they stood in silence for a heartbeat, two, and then three. In that time Jughead’s grip gentled, one of his hands winding its way up to wrap around the back of Archie’s neck, grounding and comforting to them both. A breath, then another, a third and Archie sighed softly. “What are you doing here anyway Jug?” He asked voice soft and strained with emotion.

Jughead returned his sigh and looked up at him, dropping the hand from his shirt but letting the one on his neck stay where it was, thumb rubbing in a mindless pattern against the soft short hairs there. “Got myself locked in here for a misdemeanor,” He let out a breathy chuckle, grinning wryly, “Staged a fight with Reggie, helpful guy when he knew why and for who.” He looked up to catch Archie’s eyes mirthfully. “You’ve got a loyal Bulldog, even if he’s only one of two if you count Moose.”

Archie grinned but it fell quickly, voice straining as his fingers curled in Jughead’s shirt at his sides, idly rubbing at the fabric and the skin beneath. “How long?” Jughead grinned. “A month." His grin widened. "What? Think I’d get myself thrown in here for two years?” He laughed. “Who’d help Vee and Betty save your ass then?” They laughed quietly, briefly, but sobered quickly. Archie dropped his head forward and rested it against Jughead’s shoulder, relished the arm curling halfway around his waist, returning the gesture with his hands latching onto the fabric at Jughead’s sides, pulling at it like a child might. “Why?” Was whispered roughly into Jughead’s shoulder, prompting the teen Serpent King to chuckle.

“Had to talk to you.” Archie made an aborted sound of disagreement. “Coulda just visited like a **_normal_** person.” Jughead laughed, glancing down at Archie’s position in their loose hold on each other fondly. “Nah, ‘m too weird for that, remember?” He grinned as the quiet laugh he’d been hoping for muffled itself in his shoulder. His eyes tracked back to the fence behind them, unfocusing again as they did. 

“Seriously though, I needed to be able to talk to you without so many ears listening, and I needed to have a word with a couple of _snakes_ who can’t take a frickin hint.” He sent one more glare around the circle surrounding them for good measure, but dropped it quickly when all he was met with was sheepish glances. “But anyway, one month pal, then I’ll leave you, not on your own, but I’ll be back out there, working on bringing you home.” Archie just nodded into his shoulder with a quiet “Ok.”

Jughead looked around them inconspicuously, making sure no one outside their ring of Serpents was looking too closely. Seeing no one he took the opportunity but made it quick just in case. Using the hand on his best friend’s neck he twisted it gently, tilting Archie’s head towards him carefully. Quickly, he ducked his head down and pressed a quick, chaste kiss to the redhead’s lips, not nearly long enough, or passionate enough to convey all his emotions or what was between them, but enough to get the message across. Archie responded immediately, but in the three seconds his partner pressed back against him desperately they twisted around and the hand on his neck became an arm around his shoulders, the hands grasping at his sides dropped, and in the space of a single heartbeat they were standing side by side, friends and nothing more. The Serpents didn’t comment, they knew it wasn’t something to broadcast in a prison. They merely accepted it, and accepted Archie Andrews as one of their own, after all, Jughead Jones, the Serpent King, had already claimed him.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos are nice. Comments are the best thing ever so, please??!! I don't care if it's a paragraph of analysis or a single sentence of nothing, it will make my day. <3


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